TEHRAN (IQNA) – The Trump Administration’s new Muslim ban is like a badly graded term paper.

The first version was a mess. The revision is longer and
better presented. But the thesis is still the same: Enshrine a cruel
indifference to refugees and anti-Muslim prejudice into law and call it
counterterrorism.

The Administration is at once doubling down on the ban and
attempting to overhaul its aesthetics. We are supposed to believe that rather
than President Donald Trump’s fear-mongering campaign promise of a "total and
complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” the ban has turned
into a reasonable, limited and temporary security measure. That’s the narrative
of Trump’s Cabinet officials, who went on a media offensive today while the
President himself was benched. He signed the order behind closed doors.

But make no mistake, this ban is still a ban. It’s
imperative that Congress see through the wordsmithing and call the second
executive order out for what it is: Inhumane, irrational and deeply harmful to
the country.

Although much is being made of the "scaled back” ban, that’s
a misnomer. This second ban still decimates the country’s refugee admissions
program, shutting it down for four months and leaving thousands of refugees
stranded. Refugees who were poised to come to the US after spending years going
through intensive vetting — who sold their few belongings, said goodbye and set
their sights on a better future — will be left with no option but to return to
perilous situations, including in refugees camps and war zones.

During the so-called "pause” on the refugee program,
refugees already in the vetting process will see their background checks
expire. At best, they will have to redo a yearslong process. This is like
leaving people in a burning building, telling them to "hold on a second” and
hoping the fire will not consume them.

Another supposed selling point of the revised travel ban is
that it drops Iraq from the list of banned countries. That’s a nod to concerns
about alienating the Iraqi government and deserting Iraqis who served with US
forces. But many Iraqis who supported the US — and who face death threats and
violence because of it — will still be barred from coming here. Nearly a decade
ago, Congress passed a law to give them direct access to the refugee admissions
program. But the executive order thwarts that by suspending the refugee program
altogether.

The new Muslim ban does exempt lawful permanent residents
and current visa holders. But that won’t prevent significant damage to the
country’s universities, which count on international students — who reap $32.8
billion for the US economy. Nor will it undo the damage to the US tourism industry,
which will still be stigmatized by the order. No one wants to plan a vacation
to Disney World, after all, if they fear their country could be added to the
ban list next.

There is an even more serious impact for American Muslims,
who face a volatile climate of harassment, discrimination and even violence
directed against them. By reasserting bigotry as a basis for "protecting us
from terrorism,” the executive order may embolden more hate-based attacks.
Instead of increasing security, this order will make all of us less safe —
especially those of us who are perceived as "looking foreign.”

In some ways, the second ban is worse than its predecessor.
It signals that the Trump Administration is determined to pursue its
anti-Muslim, extremist agenda and will not be hindered by courts — nor by the
showing of public concern which followed the first ban. That remarkable
cultural moment — symbolized by the immediate airport protests and sustained by
the solidarity of faith groups, civil rights figures and celebrities who’ve
spoken out repeatedly over the last month — seems to have gone unheeded by the
Trump Administration.

Nothing could be more frightening than this: An
Administration that is so insulated from voices of moderation that it believes
it can merely tinker with a policy that sparked outrage and somehow defuse it.
This is a government unmoored from reality. It is more attached to a warped
agenda of anti-Muslim fear-mongering than to the analysis of veteran national
security leaders, many of whom told a court that the prior order "undermines
the national security of the United States.” This second Muslim ban is chilling
not just for the thousands of people directly impacted, but for the US. If
Trump’s second order survives, it will be because the original order set the
bar so low that anything else — including this shallow revision — appears
restrained. Graded on a curve, Trump’s policies will pass muster. But in this
test of our collective commitment to humanity, fairness and equality, the rest
of us will have failed.